citizen journalsim

While the MSM tut-tuts about who is and who ain't a journalist, there's a new site that aims to make a better journalist out of anybody who's interested.

From the about page for the new Knight Citizen News Network:

The Knight Citizen News Network is a self-help portal that guides both ordinary citizens and traditional journalists in launching and responsibly operating community news and information sites.

It seeks to help build capacity for citizens who want to start their own news ventures and to open the doors to citizen participation for traditional news organizations seeking to embrace user-generated content.

Above all it seeks to impart an understanding of the qualities that make for responsible and credible journalism. The Network will offer numerous learning modules with guidance on how to populate citizen news sites with content, how to use databases and new technology to jumpstart reporting, and how to train citizen journalists. It will provide a unique database of known citizen media sites, searchable by town and other criteria.

There's a full report of today's Immigration Town Hall Meeting on the way, but here's a wee snippet to whet your political whistles. Thanks to syntax and Photoshop Guru for their fraternity as we entered the acidic belly of the Republican beast.

Google Video: